THE MARDYKE COMPLEX in Cork will be busy tomorrow as some 600 transition year students pour in for an event that puts an important focus on wheelchair basketball. 

The Irish Wheelchair Association has been running days like this since 2012, offering young people an opportunity to represent their school in a team sport. It died off after six or seven years, and then Covid intervened just as they attempted a relaunch. But for the past three years, thanks to the dedicated efforts of UCC students, Wheelchair Basketball4All has been growing in popularity.

Schools from Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny, Galway, Waterford and Tipperary will be at the 2025 edition, and there will be plenty of familiar faces on the court. The ever-growing demand is outstripping places available for schools and athletes. 

“I’d say 90% of the schools have come here year on year,” Paul Ryan of the Wheelchair Association-Sport [IWA-Sport] explains. “I suppose it’s difficult to get new schools into it because so many re-sign up to it.

“The interest is there but we haven’t the capacity to have more in the Mardyke. If we did, we could sell this twice over. 

“Our plan is to run this in other PE teaching universities in UL and DCU to see if we can get this running around the country. There’s the disability awareness element there as well but it’s very much a sporting event. It’s normalising para sports. If we could get this as a nationwide programme, it would be amazing.”

That expansion work is already in progress. And if they encourage other institutions to run similar competitions, it would open pathways to intervarsity tournaments at some point in the future.

But before they can work towards achieving innovations like that, the focus must be entirely on this year’s event. The third year UCC students from the B.Ed. Physical Education, Sports Studies and Arts programme will be overseeing the activity in the Mardkye along with Ryan’s Wheelchair Association.

In order to adequately accommodate the hundreds of students, the Wheelchair Basketball4All will be divided into two sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Two courts will be running wheelchair basketball from 9am until 3.30pm. When a school is not involved in a game, their students have access to ergometer and rowing machines to keep them active.

“The trick is to try and keep your energy there for the second session as well. There’s no hanging around,” adds Ryan. “We keep the pace high and do it all again then in the afternoon.

“We meet students down the line and they talk about the craic of it. It’s very much a sporting event. The energy around the room is very positive.”

Ryan’s background is in para sailing but after representing Ireland at the 2008 Paralympics in 2008, he found a new home in Wheelchair Basketball. He has been working for the IWA-Sport for the past 16 years. Now serving as their National Operations Manager, he feels blessed to be working in sport after a successful career as a para athlete. 

Events like the Wheelchair Basketball4All enables him to create similar opportunities for the next generation of para stars.

“There’s nothing not to love about this day. It’s one of the only events where kids with disabilities can play as a team within their school. It’s a very inclusive event. 

“What you find with wheelchair basketball, the teams that work together the most are the ones who do best. And once they figure they out, it’s lovely to see that interaction.”